Glen Farley has covered the Patriots for The Enterprise since the Raymond Berry regime.

Belichick lauds Moore during Sunday call

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By Glen Farley

Glen Farley has covered sports for The Enterprise since 1978. His time on the Patriots beat dates back to the final year of the Raymond Berry regime, 1989. You could say his roots lie in Foxboro. He once won an award for a piece he wrote on the sod
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Glen Farley has covered sports for The Enterprise since 1978. His time on the Patriots beat dates back to the final year of the Raymond Berry regime, 1989. You could say his roots lie in Foxboro. He once won an award for a piece he wrote on the sod at Gillette Stadium.

Again, with thanks to the Patriots media relations department for the quick work it did with the day's transcript:

PATRIOTS HEAD COACH BILL BELICHICK

CONFERENCE CALL

August 24, 2014

BB: Today is our day to go through the film with the payers and look at the corrections and all the things that happened in the Carolina game and quickly turn the page here and get on to some of the things we need to cover at the end of training camp before we get into the start of the regular season and also get going on the Giants. This is a short week, quick turnaround, and really a lot of things we have to tie up here in the next few days and then hopefully we’ll be ready to turn out attention next week to the start of the regular season. Obviously roster moves will be coming. That will be part of the whole process too.

Q: You have until Tuesday for the first set of roster moves. Do you anticipate going all the way until Tuesday or do you think there would be some before?

BB: There could be some before, but I’m sure there will be some on Tuesday as well.

Q: Going back to the challenge flag in the Carolina game – did you not have it in your sock? I know you usually have it there and I’m wondering if maybe that was part of the delay in throwing it?

BB: It was [inaudible] indecisive on whether or not to throw it, but Dave [Equipment Manager Dave Schoenfeld] got it right away. It wasn’t a problem.

Q: In terms of going over the game film, what are one or two takeaways that you think are good teaching points from that game?

BB: I think there are a lot of things, really. There are great teaching points on every play. As I said going in to the game, Carolina was different than the other two teams we’ve seen, so we had different calls and different things that we had to do on plays that [inaudible]. Some of them we did well; others, not so well. It would be something on everything, but overall the way the team approached the game, their preparation, practice, the overall energy in the game, I thought there were some good things to talk about there, too.

Q: Yesterday you were asked about the offensive line shuffling. Specifically at the center and right guard spots, have you seen any separation there or do you need to see more to determine the top guy at those two spots?

BB: I think we’ll keep grinding away here in training camp. Once we, if we decide on something, we’ll decide on it. But I don’t have anything to announce on anybody, so no.

Q: On the new practice squad rules, how much of a benefit do you think that will be for teams to be able to now add two players with a couple years’ experience to their scout team?

BB: I think there’s some. Overall, it’s still fairly marginal. You know, there’s some. I mean, you’re talking about guys who are the whatever, 54th, 55th, 56th players, so they’re part of the team and all that, but if they were higher than that they wouldn’t be in that position, so that’s what we’re talking about. But I think a lot of those players would be the type of players that would get signed early in the season anyway. When teams have injuries, those type of guys that were probably the 53rd, 54th, 55th last cut type of players at the 53 cut. And if they weren’t eligible be on the practice squad like in previous years, then those are some of the guys that would be signed or picked up at that point like a Chris Jones, for example, a player like that that was on and off a couple rosters right there in the 53 and then ended up on our roster. I think it’s – I don’t know how much of an impact it’s going to have. It’s a little bit different. It can give you a couple more players on the field, but overall I think it’s, in the big picture, a marginal change.

Q: Is Jordan Devey a good example of a player who made the most out of being on the practice squad last year?

BB: You can go back over the last 15 years and find dozens of players who have been in that situation for us and have gone on to play a lot of good football – Dan Connolly, Ryan Wendell. Those guys have played. We’ll see what Devey does or doesn’t do. [Inaudible] We could go and name a lot more – some of whom are on our roster, some of who aren’t, maybe who have played for us or moved onto another team.

Q: Do you have any impressions on a first look on Jerel Worthy and the scheme change from Dom Capers’ scheme and Green Bay to New England?

BB: There’s a little bit of transition within the systems, but I wouldn’t say that it’s that dramatic. [Inaudibe] I don’t think it’s the same but it’s not that dramatic. The big thing is that Jerel just hasn’t played. This is the first week he’s practiced or played, kind of similar to a couple other players that we brought into camp like James Morris a couple weeks ago. There’s an acclimation process to playing football. I think that goes for any player. I’m sure he went through that this week and in his first game and we’ll see how that goes going forward.

Q: What’s your take on how Vince Wilfork has looked so far to you?

BB: Vince has done everything pretty much since the last week or so of OTAs. He’s done everything with the team, no real restrictions. He hasn’t really missed any time or anything. He’s been out there and worked hard. He’s getting himself ready for the season as he should be. He’s done a solid job of getting himself back and getting ready to play football this year. We’ll see how it goes going forward. I have no issues with him, I think he’s worked very hard coming back from the injury he had last year and be ready to go this season.

Q: Has he performed well in terms of what you’ve seen to this point?

BB: It’s preseason. Let’s not confuse preseason with regular season. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s been out there and participated. He played in all three preseason games. We’re all getting ready for the regular season, but we’ll see what happens when the regular season starts for all of us – players, coaches, rookies veterans, everybody. That’s when we’ll really see where everybody is. I don’t think anybody knows where they are right now.

Q: Physically he’s looked good to you?

BB: He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do.

Q: On Zach Moore coming from a lower level of competition – how has he showed up against players coming from a higher level of competition in college in the first three games?

BB: I think that [inaudible] going back to OTAs and training camp, working against our players as you said, as we know with different competition. He’s made progress on a daily basis really. He goes out on the field and you can see improvements. He works hard, he’s very conscientious, very attentive, really tries to do things right. He just has a lot of things to work on and he’s playing against a different level of players than he has in the past. He’s really done a good job of all the things we’ve asked him to do but it’s a big jump. He’s gaining on it, I’ll definitely say that. He’s definitely gaining on it.